Cherry Blossoms Part 1

Cherry blossom, or sakura, season is in full bloom here in Japan and we have done our very best to see as many as we possibly could!  I had always heard about the cherry blossoms here, but experiencing them has completely exceeded my expectations!  They're so beautiful, and they are only around for a short while--just a couple of weeks--that it's almost stressful!  I've had my fair share of anxiety trying to coordinate and schedule which places we needed to visit and when :)  I just didn't want to miss any!  But, luckily, we were able to get my top 3 parks in:  Shinjuku Gyoen, Ueno Park, and Inokashira Park.  And, we were even able to visit a few more spots as well.

Surprisingly, our base has some of the most beautiful sakura trees around!  They are huge, mature trees that line a few of the main roads here on base, making it as if you're driving through a tunnel of cherry blossoms.  The kids and I have had fun riding our bikes under the trees and every day you're sure to see any number of people outside taking pictures by them!

Our first big hanami outing (which means viewing of cherry blossoms) was to Shinjuku Gyoen, a large park in the middle of Shinjuku.  It was lightly raining and the kids were freezing, but the trees were absolutely beautiful!  So it was worth it!  Or at least that's what we kept telling them :)

Since I have far too many sakura pictures, I've decided to do a few posts, so . . . this is out of order, but the next few pictures are of the last place we visited!  The Tamagawa trail, which is just down the road in our neighborhood of Fussa.  It was especially pretty in the evening with the lanterns lit.

Stay tuned for more pictures from Ueno Park and Inokashira Park!

GPS Coordinates for Shinjuku Gyoen: 

35.685416, 139.710041